Twenty-five years after the end of the Great Dragon war saw Equestria battling the Draconic Alliance for pony survival against a deranged elder dragon. Now only three separate elder dragon run city-states are all that remain of the once powerful alliance. Yet even after so long there are wounds that run deep that could threaten that peace in more ways then one.

The unicorn came back inside, in a good enough mood to be singing softly to himself, "Oh all my caps go jingle jangle jingle/As I stroll right merrily along." He stopped as he approached the service desk, though. He knew Kroll wouldn't appreciate that sort of thing and consiously tried to tone it down some. Though he wondered why the griffion appeared to be standing there staring at nothing...

"Kroll," He said in a greeting more subdued than he was feeling, setting his empty mug down on the counter. The unicorn would usually seem overly armed with his rifle and revolver worn openly, but next to the armory that was Kroll, he seemed rather diminutive. Inwardly he was critizing the griffin for being overly encumbered, trading his race's natural advantage of speed and air superiority for a whole lot of gear, some of which would inevitably go unused given the sheer amount. He kept those thoughts to himself though, not looking to start a fight. "What're you doing down here? Somepony take over Blondie watch?"

Kroll snapped out of his daze as he heard Longshot call out to him, not expecting to have been interrupted. "Hmm?" the tercel grumbled as he slowly turned his head to look at the stallion, his amber eyes staring down at the pony through the thin slit in his helmet's faceshield."Mh, I was retasked with a new errand, Equestrian." the merc replied in a blunt tone as he turned to face the stallion head on, interpreting Longshot's question as a challenging accusation. "And am I to suppose your excuse for being here is a better one than mine?"

"Right, of course" Iris said, lifting the two plates with her magic after double checking that nothing had been left in the room. "I just thought we'd save a little time this way, but we really should be regrouping over breakfast."

She trotted down to the inn's common room and slid the two roomservice plates on the counter in front of stools next to Kroll and Longshot. "Good morning partners. Lets get this over with." she greeted them, digging into her breakfast.

Longshot was momentarily baffled, did Kroll suspect he was up to something? He shook his head, "I'm technically off duty, so I don't really need a reason to be anywhere. Though since you asked, I was enjoying the sunrise; my home was perpetually overcast, so I try to enjoy the Sister's handiwork whenever I have the opportunity. I'll just assume that makes my reason for being down here 'better', seeing as you only offered one for not being Blondie's current babysitter but didn't actually offer one for spacing out at the front counter." Longshot had ultimately settled on a slightly amused look, deciding to assume Kroll had simply gotten defensive becasue he wasn't very good in the mornings.

As some ponies came downstairs, Longshot was glad to drop the subject for more pleasent ones. "Good morning, Iris. Everything about set then?"

“Be right down,” she called as the other mare headed outside. Sighing she eyes the sword still in its sheath. “Okay I get the whole trying to calm me down bit, but someone’s going to start asking about this whole random orange smell from nowhere one day.” Like normal the sword failed to respond, in truth it never did, she just felt better talking towards it when things got weird. Shaking her head she quickly takes to brushing her mane out before buckling her harness on.

Finally dressed Silver heads downstairs finding Iris at the counter her slightly cooler plate waiting next to her with Kroll and Longshot. Catching the last part of what Longshot said the mare takes a seat at the counter. “Soon as everyponys downstairs and ready we’ll make our way over to the Shrieking Daffodil.”

Kroll narrowed his eyes at Longshot, not taking kindly to his tone or choice of words. However, before he could retort he was interrupted by the arrival of Iris and Slivershine, encouraging the tercel to postpone his argument with the stallion for another time. Turning to face the two mares, the mercenary nodded along as he listened to Silvershine explain the current plan until he noticed something wrong with the scene before him."Ah, Newboss?" the griffon asked patiently, a detectable level of irritation hanging in his voice. "What are the current whereabouts of the prisoner at this time?"

Lucky had slept well last night. She had, of course, woken up a bit every time somepony out in the hallway had made enough noise. That was normal. What made last night relaxing, though, was that she'd been able to recognize the noises as Longshot's or Kroll's footsteps and armaments. She'd been able to snuggle back under the covers each time until the sun was up.

Once out of bed, all Lucky needed to do was stretch, shake out her mane, and plop her saddlebag over her back, before heading out the door. She saluted to Kroll on her way to the stairs, amused to see him decked out in full-body armor.

Nopony was in the dining room when Lucky got there. The breakfast menu wasn't anything too fancy, disappointingly. Pancakes, muffins, hay bacon, cereal, flowers, eggs. Something eggy sounded good right now, especially since she'd been unable to fully enjoy her quiche at dinner last night. Eggs on their own were too boring, but she wanted something a little more fluffy than an omelette.

Lucky brought a menu over to the stallion at the service desk, pointing at the section that said "Eggs: Any style, cooked to order". "Sorry to be that pony making things complicated so early in the morning," she apologized, "but does 'any style' include frittata?"

Half an hour later, Lucky was wearing an apron and hair net, walking the morning chef through the making of the fried egg casserole. Cranberry Muffin had at first protested that she was no good at frying anything, but was convinced to let Lucky into the kitchen to show her the recipe. Since the morning had started off slowly, the chef had taken the time to write the instructions down, and was even doing parts of the process herself so that she could learn.

Once the food was cooked, Lucky had offered to share some with Cranberry, but by then some room service orders had come in. Cranberry started on the pancakes as more of the kitchen staff began trickling in for the morning, but Lucky stayed for a bit longer to chat with her new acquaintance while cleaning up the dishes she'd used for her own breakfast.

By the time Lucky left the kitchen, the rest of her group seemed to have made it to the dining room. She'd heard Longshot singing, so hopefully that meant that the night had gone well. She grinned widely as she set her plate down next to Iris and Silver's breakfasts. "Good morning, everypony! Any of you want some frittata? Because I don't think I can eat this whole thing myself."

Silver pointed towards a table where Blondie was sitting down to both Lucky and Kroll’s question. She’d already managed to scarf down the dandelions and half her pancakes since she’d hit her seat. “Apologies if I’m short today, just wanting to get this done. Anything to report from last night?”

The mercenary let out a quiet sigh of relief as he looked past Silvershine, seeing Bronze Scales seated at the far side of the counter. Hearing his employer's question, the tercel shook his head. "I have nothing to report from the prior night shift, New-Boss." he reported.

Longshot grabbed a fork in his magic and stuck it into the... eggs Lucky had brought out, acknowledging her offer with a smile. It smelled too good to pass up.

Her turned his attention to the mafia boss though, waving the forkful of egg in Blondie's direction with a spark of amusement. "So I'm not good enough for you, huh? I'd be insulted you gave my friend an offer but not me, but I'm mostly just confused. How has your organization survived when you so easily overlook great talent."

He finally popped the eggs into his mouth and got distracted for a momement, mumbling around his fork. "Oh wow, this is delicious." He collected himself, stabbing the fork in for another bite. "Or are you just worried I'm too good? Afraid I'll pull it all out from under you and be running it within a week?" He chuckled and turned back to the amazing breakfast.

After being addressed, Blondie barely paid much attention to the gunner. The only sign that she was giving him the time of day was only that her eyes were pointed in his direction.

"Oh you have talent, but I'm sorry we're not looking for someone with your skill set." She said, resting on a hoof. "And frankly, I prefer to have employees that are more respectful, just like your friend over here. I can't remember the amount of ponies who thought that they could simply climb up the chain of command, and usurp me."

The mafioso looked rather thoughtful. "Perhaps I should go visit the boiler room. I'm sure they'll remember how many times I've visited."

"Oh well. Besides Longshot, what makes you think you'll fit in with my crew, if you don't feel like you fit in anywhere else here." She added, surprisingly kind. "Maybe you should worry more about that then Ms. Find here, hm?"

Longshot smirked, quietly chewing on his mouthful of... whatever Lucky had said it was. A fresh shower, a beautiful morning, a cup of coffee, and a delicous new food all leading up to a task to comeplete and a skilled foe to butt heads with.

He conceeded this round to her, words were her prefered battleground so he hadn't expected a victory here, but he was in a good mood and wanted to test how sharp she was in the morning. He was not disappointed. One thing lingered in his mind though, and his playful tone was replaced with curiosity as he offered up another volley just to see what she'd do with it. "That's quite the jump to make for someone who knew nothing about me just yesterday. Fumbling for strings to tug at, are we?"

The mare shrugged. "Oh y'know, to be an influential member of the mafia, you need to learn how to make puppets dance. Have to find a couple wires here or there before you make your dolls dance across the stage."

"Anyhow," Blondie moved her attention to the current party leader. "It seems like nobody had anything to report. Am I allowed to be released for good behavior, or shall we start moving towards the airship?"

Nodding to Kroll, Silver looked down at her empty plate. “Sure hand over the element and your free to go otherwise… soon as everypony’s ready we head to the hanger. Who here’s gotten their airship certs? Pilot or crewpony, need to know what we’re working with and how much crew to bring on.”

Iris stayed quiet through the breakfast. She normally would be listening to the conversation with more focus, but she wasn't able to concentrate enough to catch more than a few snippets of conversation about Blondie's recruiting last night. Caring about the affairs of the lower levels of the mafia wasn't normally on her agenda and this morning it really wasn't what she had in mind.

She snapped back into attention when Silver mentioned leaving. "Looks like Kroll will be behind the wheel. I've only ever been a passenger myself."

Lucky smiled as she watched other ponies enjoying her frittata. She leisurely ate her own portion as she listened to the back-and-forth jabs from Longshot and Blondie. It was so much fun to watch, but she should probably stop her friends from arguing... They both seemed cheerful enough, so it was probably fine for now, right?

When the airship was brought up, Lucky was almost bouncing out of her seat. She quickly gulped down the last of her breakfast and saluted at Silvershine.

"Captain Shinypants, ma'am! I don't know how to drive an airship or anything, but I have worked as a lookout on ships that need one. Let me know if I can offer my services!"

Nodding at the others the mare sighed, “Okay three means we don’t need to take anypony else with us. Though I’m sure Blondie has some skill she tends to be hoofs on for everything else. We ready to get going?”